1. Slave women were subjected to many sexual improprieties. Among them were violations by their masters and their sons, forced matings and arranged marriages.
2. Historian E. Franklin Frazier said stockmen were weighed and tested before being put into a room with young women to mate for the purpose of bearing children.

3. By the end of the 18th century, the breeding of slaves was a common practice. Laws were changed so the public could view slaves as “things” instead of people so the owner could do with them as he wished. Slave owners even began believing that slavery was grounded in the Bible.

4. American slaves in 1860 were worth $4 billion, which was far more than the $228 million worth of gold and silver circulating back then. Even the value of southern farmland — $1.92 billion — did not amount to the worth of slaves. So for the owners, their slaves were worth everything to them.

5. The mortality rate among slaves was very high. So their owners would often encourage or force them to have children. Even at the age of 13, females were expected to begin having children to replenish the slave stock. They were expected to have four or five children by the age of 20. They were often encouraged by their owners to do this with the promise of freedom.

6. Female slaves who did not cooperate with their owners to bear children for them would be subjected to many and various punishments, both mental and physical.

7. In some instances, the females who bore children for their owners were given gifts, including extra clothing, the withdrawal of any harsh treatment and sometimes, if their “quota” was met,” freedom.

8. Women who did not or could not bear children would not be given any breaks or rewards that were given to mothers, and they would do the same work on the level of men.

9. If a woman was deemed infertile, she would sometimes be separated from her family. And owners would sometimes split up married couples and require them to choose new partners.

10. Male slaves at the age of 15 were inspected to see if they could breed well. If it was deemed that they could not, their testicles would be castrated. Over the course of five years, each young male was expected to get at least 12 female slaves pregnant. According to the Slave Narratives, a male slave named Burt was said to have fathered over 200 children.

11. Plantation owners would often take the “pretty” female slaves and put them to work in the household. But if the owner showed affections or gave favors to the pretty girl, his wife would subject her to torture. If the pretty slave bore a child, the owner’s wife would behead that child.

12. To provide entertainment for his friends, the plantation owner would sometimes arrange orgies among the male and female slaves. His friends would be allowed to join in them.

13. A slave wife could never be faithful to her husband, as most owners demanded she have affairs with other men. Nor was she allowed to remain pure or virtuous.

14. Some male slaves were purchased by their owners solely by the size of their penis. And the black men were often raped by their gay slave owners. This process was called “breaking the buck.”

15. Not all owners abandoned the children they fathered with female slaves. Some would provide them with education and money. And some owners even set free their mistresses and mixed-race children.